Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. Seite 113

oi the Government's measures for dealing with the disturbances. The Arab political strike was not declared illegal, and the Government made no attempt to interfere with it, though it was openly used to demonstrate defiance of Government authority, and served as a basis for the campaign of violence of which the Arab Higher Committee assumed the leadership, and which even enjoyed the support, active or passive, of a number of Arab Government officials. The existence and activities of that Committee were tolerated, in spite of its openly seditious character, and those of its members who held official positions in the gift of the Government were allowed to remain at their posts. At the beginning of the strike, members of uie Commit cee were even permitted to niaüe a tour or the country, during whicn they openly preached sedition. Warnings Officially given to the Committee, and published for the information of the public, were not followed by effective action, while even after they had been disregarded, the Committee continued to be received by the Government as a representative body of recognised standing. Strongly worded declarations expressing the Government's determination to restore order were not followed up by corresponding action, and the emergency powers taken by the Government remained largely inoperative. The measures taken to reinforce the security forces, both locally and from outside, were characterised by considerable delay, with the result that they lagged behind the spread of the disorders, instead of preventing it. The investigation of crime during the disturbances yielded very meagre results, and even when arrests were made, the subsequent proceedings disclosed serious deficiencies on the part of those responsible for conducting the prosecutions; of the Arabs arrested in connection with the murder of eighty-two Jews only one was eventually convicted. The uncontolled state of the land frontiers made posible the incursion into Palestine of armed bands of adventurers from outside, who terrorised large sections of the Arab countryside and enlarged the scale of the campaign of lawlessness. Foreign Governments which have no locus standi under the Palestine Mandate were allowed to interfere in the affairs of Palestine, the only result being to fortify the forces hostile to the Mandate in their hopes of eventually forcing His Majesty's Government by violence into abandoning the policy of the Jewish National Home. All these factors contributed to the extension and prolongation of the disorders, until the despatch of large forces by His Majesty's Government became necessary in order to bring the situation under control. 4. As a result of the disturbances a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into the working of the Palestine Mandate. The enquiry is still in progress, and it is realised that the discussion of all the major problems affecting the future development of the Jewish National Home — both those which have formed the subject of the Jewish Agency's representations to the Government in former years,